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This can’t be happening. She looks at Nyssa with wide eyes, silently pleading her not to do this. She can’t stay here. She can’t expect them to leave her behind. If she stays, Tegan is probably never going to see her again.
“Nyssa,” she whispers. “Please.”
But Nyssa closes her eyes and swallows hard. When she opens her eyes again, they shine with tears and stare into Tegan’s. “I have to stay, Tegan. I need to.”
“But we need you too,” Tegan says, starting to get a bit hysterical but not really caring. “Please come with us. Please, I love you.”
Nyssa turns away, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry, Tegan, but it has to be this way. I love you too.”
And even though she kind of wants to scream at Nyssa for abandoning them – abandoning her – like this, Tegan can’t do it. She knows this is important for Nyssa, to help all of these seriously ill people. But it still hurts.
So she just pulls Nyssa into a tight hug, hugging her girlfriend like she can’t let go. And she knows that when she does let go, she and the Doctor are going to walk away, and then she’ll never see her again. Tegan leans against Nyssa, resting her head on her shoulder, and starts to tremble. A few tears run down her face, but she doesn’t try to hide them.
When Nyssa finally pulls away, she strokes Tegan’s face with her trembling hand and presses a soft kiss to her lips.
“I love you,” Nyssa whispers.
Tegan smiles, even though tears still run down her face. “I love you too.”
And then Nyssa walks up to the Doctor and kisses him on the cheek, and they hug and she gives the Doctor and Tegan one last wave and then she’s walking away and… she’s gone.
“Brave heart, Tegan,” the Doctor says, putting a hand on her shoulder.
She looks up at him, and realises that the Doctor’s eyes are too bright. She hasn’t seen him look like this since Adric died.
“I miss her already, Doctor,” she says, scrubbing at her tear-stained face.
“I know,” he says, sighing. “So do I. Come on, let’s go back to the TARDIS.”
And as Tegan and the Doctor walk back to the TARDIS, he reaches for her hand and she can’t stop thinking about Nyssa.
That night, she cries herself to sleep.